usan Fletcher stumbled across the darkened Crypto floor towardStrathmore's catwalk. The commander's office was as farfrom Hale as Susan could get inside the locked complex.

When Susan reached the top of the catwalk stairs, she found thecommander's door hanging loosely, the electronic lock renderedineffective by the power outage. She barged in.

"Commander?" The only light inside was the glow ofStrathmore's computer monitors. "Commander!" shecalled once again. "Commander!"

Susan suddenly remembered that the commander was in the Sys-Seclab. She turned circles in his empty office, the panic of herordeal with Hale still in her blood. She had to get out of Crypto.Digital Fortress or no Digital Fortress, it was time toact—time to abort the TRANSLTR run and escape. She eyedStrathmore's glowing monitors then dashed to his desk. Shefumbled with his keypad. Abort TRANSLTR! The task was simplenow that she was on an authorized terminal. Susan called up theproper command window and typed:

ABORT RUN

Her finger hovered momentarily over the ENTER key.

"Susan!" a voice barked from the doorway. Susanwheeled scared, fearing it was Hale. But it was not, it wasStrathmore. He stood, pale and eerie in the electronic glow, hischest heaving. "What the hell's going on!"

"Com… mander!" Susan gasped. "Hale's inNode 3! He just attacked me!"

"What? Impossible! Hale's locked downin—"

"No, he's not! He's loose! We need security inhere now! I'm aborting TRANSLTR!" Susan reached for thekeypad.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Strathmore lunged for theterminal and pulled Susan's hands away.

Susan recoiled, stunned. She stared at the commander and for thesecond time that day did not recognize him. Susan felt suddenlyalone.

Strathmore saw the blood on Susan's shirt and immediatelyregretted his outburst. "Jesus, Susan. Are you okay?"

She didn't respond.

He wished he hadn't jumped on her unnecessarily. His nerveswere frayed. He was juggling too much. There were things on hismind—things Susan Fletcher did not know about—things hehad not told her and prayed he'd never have to.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "Tell me whathappened."

She turned away. "It doesn't matter. The blood'snot mine. Just get me out of here."

"Are you hurt?" Strathmore put a hand on her shoulder.Susan recoiled. He dropped his hand and looked away. When he lookedback at Susan's face, she seemed to be staring over hisshoulder at something on the wall.

There, in the darkness, a small keypad glowed full force.Strathmore followed her gaze and frowned. He'd hoped Susanwouldn't notice the glowing control panel. The illuminatedkeypad controlled his private elevator. Strathmore and hishigh-powered guests used it to come and go from Crypto withoutadvertising the fact to the rest of the staff. The personal liftdropped down fifty feet below the Crypto dome and then movedlaterally 109 yards through a reinforced underground tunnel to thesublevels of the main NSA complex. The elevator connecting Cryptoto the NSA was powered from the main complex; it was on-linedespite Crypto's power outage.

Strathmore had known all along it was on-line, but even as Susanhad been pounding on the main exit downstairs, he hadn'tmentioned it. He could not afford to let Susan out—not yet. Hewondered how much he'd have to tell her to make her want tostay.

Susan pushed past Strathmore and raced to the back wall. Shejabbed furiously at the illuminated buttons.

"Please," she begged. But the door did not open.

"Susan," Strathmore said quietly. "The lift takesa password."

"A password?" she repeated angrily. She glared at thecontrols. Below the main keypad was a second keypad—a smallerone, with tiny buttons. Each button was marked with a letter of thealphabet. Susan wheeled to him. "What is the password!"she demanded.

Strathmore thought a moment and sighed heavily. "Susan,have a seat."

Susan looked as if she could hardly believe her ears.

"Have a seat," the commander repeated, his voicefirm.

"Let me out!" Susan shot an uneasy glance toward thecommander's open office door.

Strathmore eyed the panicked Susan Fletcher. Calmly he moved tohis office door. He stepped out onto the landing and peered intothe darkness. Hale was nowhere to be seen. The commander steppedback inside and pulled the door shut. Then he propped a chair infront to keep it closed, went to his desk, and removed somethingfrom a drawer. In the pale glow of the monitors Susan saw what hewas holding. Her face went pale. It was a gun.

Strathmore pulled two chairs into the middle of the room. Herotated them to face the closed office door. Then he sat. He liftedthe glittering Beretta semi-automatic and aimed steadily at theslightly open door. After a moment he laid the gun back in hislap.

He spoke solemnly. "Susan, we're safe here. We need totalk. If Greg Hale comes through that door…" He let ithang.

Susan was speechless.

Strathmore gazed at her in the dim light of his office. Hepatted the seat beside him. "Susan, sit. I have something totell you." She did not move. "When I'm done,"he said, "I'll give you the password to the elevator. Youcan decide whether to leave or not."

There was a long silence. In a daze, Susan moved across theoffice and sat next to Strathmore.

"Susan," he began, "I haven't been entirelyhonest with you."